Wednesday, February 3, 2016

swept away

Today we read the February 3 selection from A Year with C.S Lewis. If you don't have this book and wish to follow along, you can purchase it as an ebook from bn.com for only $2.99.

Lewis today talks about missing the Kingdom of God. And he says that it doesn't really matter if you miss it by chasing women or by chasing government or by losing yourself in art. He makes a good point, that the Kingdom of God is far more important than any of these things. And in the end, if we choose something else, anything else, above Christ, we have chosen poorly. Whether this will lead to our damnation is up to God, and I trust in His mercy and grace.

But the final few lines of Lewis's writing are what grab me today. He talks of moving in the ocean past the point where we can just splash and still be in control, to the place where we are "out of our depth" and are swept out of our control into places where the currents carry us. In a real live ocean, that's terrifying and life threatening and irresponsible. In the hands of God, it's also scary, can be difficult, and it challenges us on a very deep level. But unlike the physical ocean, which might smash us to bits without caring, God (who is incomparably more powerful than the ocean) cares about us so deeply that He brings us to places where we lie in green pastures, and drink from still waters, and where He restores our soul. He brings us, in fact, to the place where we are more greatly fulfilled and happy than we could ever have imagined before we "lost control."

I urge you to take that step. Go beyond your shallows. And trust the maker of the ocean to take you to good places, full of adventure.

Thank You, maker of the seas, for being so careful in bringing us close to You.